Thursday, January 24, 2008

Monoteaism

Some people are monoteaists. That is, day in and day out, 365 days of the year, they only drink one kind of tea. You can find monoteaists all over the world. In parts of southern Fujian, they shun the locally produced tea in favor of Anxi’s Tieguanyin. And they simply refuse to drink other types of tea – even if it’s a really good tea. Some people are monoteaists because – that’s their preferred type of tea; and that’s what they always drink. But isn’t that kind of like the frog in the well who knows nothing of the vastness of the sea beyond?

There are some people who are actually even ateaists. They don’t drink tea at all. Never. Who could live like that? To be an ateaist must be to live a wretched life – to be unknowing of the comforts and pleasures of life – Tea.

Other people are multiteaists. They don’t limit themselves to only one kind of tea. They will drink any kind of tea – red, black, white, yellow, green, compressed, moldy - whatever. And they are more open to trying new teas, and new tea experiences.

All tea comes from one plant – Camellia sinensis. But just like there are many varieties of corn, there are many varieties of tea. And each tea looks different, tastes different and smells different from the next. Some teas have big leaves; some teas have very small, tender leaves. It’s worth trying out different kinds of teas to learn what they are, and understand the differences and similarities. Multiteaism is good. Now let’s have some blue corn tortillas and green tea.

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1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I confess to being a multiteaist. I tend to go through phases in which I want only pu'erh or green tea or black tea. But lately I've been changing teas throughout the day, perhaps starting with black tea, then moving on to oolong or pu'erh.

Great post. Thanks!